468 
The  Duty  of  the  Pharmacist. 
( A.m.  Jour.  Pharm. 
\     October,  1906. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  condemn,  before  an  audience  of  this  kind,  the 
other  two  forms  of  irregular  practice  which  have  been  mentioned  ; 
they  are  only  persisted  in  by  a  small  proportion  of  the  members  of 
the  profession,  i.  e.t  that  proportion  which  never  allies  itself  with  any 
associations  nor  attends  meetings  where  such  subjects  come  up  for 
discussion,  and  in  whom  the  moral  sense  is  so  blunted  that  they 
would  be  guilty  of  dishonest  practices  in  whatever  business  or  pro. 
fession  they  happened  to  be  placed. 
There  are,  however,  certain  irregularities  to  which  the  pharmacist 
is  often  an  unwilling  contributor,  and  the  elimination  of  which  will 
be  brought  about  by  a  proper  understanding  of  the  conditions 
which  exist.  I  refer  to  the  matters  which  come  under  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Council  of  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  of  the  A.M.A. 
The  Council  of  Pharmacy  and  Chemistry  and  its  work  needs  no 
explanation  to  most  of  the  members  present.  It  was  formed  for  the 
purpose  of  disseminating  information  concerning  a  large  number  of 
preparations,  some  of  which  are  worthy  and  others  unworthy  or 
fraudulent,  and  whose  number  is  so  large  that  the  ordinary  practi- 
tioner cannot  spare  the  time  to  look  into  the  merits  of  each  indi- 
vidual preparation  himself.  The  committee  consists  of  fifteen  mem- 
bers who  stand  among  the  highest  in  the  professions  of  medicine 
and  pharmacy  in  the  country.  They  have  formulated  certain  rules 
to  which  preparations  must  conform  in  every  respect  in  order  to 
meet  with  the  approval  of  the  committee.  The  results  of  the 
investigations  as  far  as  accepted  or  admitted  articles  are  concerned 
will  be  published  in  book  form  at  a  nominal  price,  to  serve  as  a 
guide  or  handbook  of  unofficial  and  legitimate  preparations  in 
common  use.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  has  been  no  provision 
for  publishing  in  the  same  book  the  facts  and  information  in  such 
cases  where  the  preparation  has  not  been  found  worthy  of  admis- 
sion, for  it  is  just  as  important  to  know  what  not  to  prescribe  as  it 
is  to  know  what  is  proper  to  give. 
In  connection  with  several  of  these  rules  the  pharmacist,  by  virtue 
of  his  special  knowledge  along  these  lines,  is  well  qualified  to  aid 
the  members  of  the  medical  profession  in  this  great  work. 
Rule  2  provides  that  "  No  chemical  compound  will  be  admitted 
unless  information  be  furnished  regarding  tests  for  identity,  purity 
and  strength,  and,  if  a  synthetic  compound,  the  rational  formula." 
The  pharmacist,  by  his  training  in  theoretical  organic  chemistry 
